Claustrophobia
by LittleMewLugia
Summary: Sequel to “Drone.” After Ratchet “accidentally” lets the Twins know that the drone that almost killed Bumblebee was Starscream’s invention, they set out to punish him. But have they gone too far this time? WARNING: Contains SLASH.
1. Chapter 1

Claustrophobia.

Summary: Sequel to "Drone." After Ratchet "accidentally" lets the Twins know that the drone that almost killed Bumblebee was Starscream's invention, they set out to punish him. But have they gone too far this time?

Rating: M for safety

Warnings: mild torment, cussing, mech insanity, smut.

Pairings: Ratchet/Starscream.

Disclaimer: Transformers does not belong to me, unfortunately. It is the property of Hasbro and Dreamworks/Paramount.

A/N: thanks to KDZeal's insights into the effect of incarceration on Seekers.

Claustrophobia.

Prologue.

"You sure we got all the slagger's bombs?" Sunstreaker asked Sideswipe as they played the last boulder in the barrier they were building.

"Anything he hadn't subspaced, we got, Bro." Sideswipe said as they stood back to inspect their handiwork. "We disabled his arm cannons and all the other weapons possessed by either his mech or alt form."

"Okay, let's finish this off," said Sunstreaker, and the two raised their arm lasers and played them over the mass of rocks they had piled in the cave mouth. They glowed red, then white, then lost their definition as the heat increased. By the time the twins had finished, the rocks had slagged and slid into each other, not enough to open the mouth of the cave, but enough to make them flow together to produce a knobbly plug of rock.

"He'll be awake soon." Sideswipe said. "When do you plan to let him out?"

"Oh, I don't know. Maybe in a few vorns, if I'm in a good mood." Sunstreaker stated.

Together they turned and began heading back to the Autobot base.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Starscream woke slowly. He could remember those slagging Twins jumping him, forcing him to land, remembered them sitting on his back and pulling painfully at his wings.

"You created that slagging drone that almost killed Bumblebee, didn't you?" Sunstreaker had said, grasping his tail fin and pushing it so hard it had began to bend.

"Yes! It was just an experiment, get off me!" Starscream had cried.

"Oh no, you don't get away that easy." Sideswipe had told him, and then, all had gone black.

He could tell from the residual energy pattern and the fuzziness of his processors that he had been shot on heavy stun. Unshuttering his optics, he was at first confused, because it was still dark. Thinking his optics may still be rebooted, he levered himself up from the uneven surface he lay on, activating his scanners. He did not want to be blind and vulnerable.

His optics shuttered wide open with a shocked snap as his scans returned back information. He was in a small, enclosed rocky space which was not even high enough for him to stand straight up in, and no immediately obvious way to exit. A small whine escaped his vocal processor before he clamped down on his rising panic as he managed to get himself into a crouch and began to shuffle about, hoping to find an exit.

All Seekers were as varied in their personalities as the colour-patterns on their wings, but there was one thing they all shared - a dread of small, enclosed spaces. Starscream had a few times been punished by Megatron by being shut in a small room on his own, only ever for a few days, but each time had been enough to stop him from repeating his transgression. However Megatron had never been so angry as to leave him in the dark, and not underground, as Starscream's scans revealed that he was indeed fifteen feet below the planet's surface.

Then he found the cave mouth - or where it had been. It was now blocked by a plug of recently-melted rock. Starscream switched to his infra-red vision, could see that the plug was still hot, but not hot enough to damage him. He tried to push it aside or find cracks, but to no avail. There were one or two cracks that seemed to be letting air in, but there was no more than that.

He backed up and raised his arm weapon, planning to blast it to atoms, but it was then he found his gun didn't work. He checked for his bombs, found they had all been removed, and then checked his weapons with a rising sense of panic, which he clamped down on. He had none in his subspace, supplies were low, and he went back over to the rocky plug.

"Is there anyone out there? Let me out, you slaggers! You've had your fun, you made your point, now let me go!" he cried. He continued in this vein for half an hour, until he realised that there was either nobody out there, or that if anyone was, they were not listening. Scanning, he found that the situation was the former. He was totally alone.

Starscream sat down, concentrating on fighting his instinctive fear of being permanently trapped. They'd come back and release him in a few days, they would, they'd HAVE to, they wouldn't leave him there like that,…would they?

Every few hours he ran a scan, and even when he found nobody, he repeated his angry comments. Once a few days had gone by, they changed to apologies, and over a weak later, the apologies became begging cries.

However, there was nobody there to hear them.


	2. Chapter 2

Claustrophobia.

Chapter One.

A/N: 1 joor about 6.5 hours, 1 orn about 13 days, 1 vorn 83 years. The effects of confinement on fliers was provided by KDZeal of the Nerdene Hyrde.

Several Weeks Later.

Ratchet looked up from the displays on Prime's desk computer to see the young scout Bumblebee come in. Optimus nodded to Ratchet, and sent a data pulse to the computer, which flickered and then blanked.

"Okay, Ratchet, I have relayed your request for certain necessary parts to Will, who will pass them on. He has the necessary access to our funds." He looked up to Bumblebee.

"You have returned from your mission, Bumblebee?" he asked. Bumblebee nodded, his blue optics glowing hotly.

Optimus could tell from the young scout's manner that he had data to report: the Decepticons had been acting very strange of late, more reckless than usual, and there seemed to be little or no co-ordination in their movements. To add to this, the two other Seekers, Thundercracker and Skywarp, had been seen overflying areas, seemingly not taking so much care to not be seen. Bumblebee had been despatched to investigate, to gather as much information as possible, over a week through observations and monitoring of Decepticon communications. Bumblebee had been trying to crack the latest Decepticon code when he went out, and Optimus had to wonder if the young scout had managed to crack it while he had been away.

"Ratchet, stay for this." Optimus instructed. "There may be information in Bumblebee's report you might need or wish to know. "Scout, report. Firstly, did you manage to work on cracking the code?"

"Yes, Prime." stated Bumblebee, standing to attention as he looked at Optimus. "The code was cracked two days into my mission. Do you wish me to give you the encryption keys?"

"Send them to Mirage; he will input them to the base computer." Optimus said. "What did you learn from your observations and monitoring of the base, Bumblebee?" he asked.

Bumblebee's optics dimmed as he prepared his report: then he looked up and they brightened again.

"It appears that the Decepticon activity is as uncoordinated as it seems: there seems to be no purpose to the Seeker's flights although they are flying search patterns. There have been a few more landings but the rest of the Decepticons seem to be staying in hiding except for a few random and apparently unconnected attacks. Upon cracking their code, I did discover one thing: Starscream appears to be missing."

Optimus nodded: Starscream had been notably absent from the skies in the last few weeks but they were not sure if that was because he was lying low, was missing, or was injured. Now they knew the answer.

"The other two Seekers appear to be managing to keep order between them, managing to keep questions of a leadership challenge to no more than questions, but the longer Starscream stays missing, the more often these questions are going to be raised." Bumblebee said worriedly.

Optimus shared Bumblebee's worry: the Seeker, for all his faults, had managed to keep the diverse core of his Decepticon forces cohesive, through a mixture of flattery and fear, and when needed, playing one off against the other in order to keep his grip on what he had coveted for so long: the Decepticon leadership. While Starscream was leader, he himself would keep the Decepticons from splintering into mini-factions and fighting amongst themselves, a scenario that would likely involve the loss of human life. Similarly, a leadership challenge could also result in carnage and bloodshed. As distasteful as a united Decepticon force behind Starscream was, it was the lesser of two evils as far as the native species was concerned, and at least with Starscream as leader, the Decepticon's plans were fairly predictable.

Optimus sighed through his vents as he contemplated his options.

"Tell all our forces that if they see any sign of what may have happened to Starscream or his whereabouts, to report directly to myself or Ratchet." Optimus said. "Ratchet, we may have to prepare to receive an injured flier: tell me anything extra that you might be likely to need and I'll contact the Army." Ratchet nodded, crossed the room and exited, and Optimus focused his attention back on Bumblebee.

"Starscream must be found, alive or dead, so we at least have an idea of what the future holds." Optimus hoped very much that Starscream was alive, but had to accept the possibility that the Seeker had somehow met his end. "I will contact the military to find out if there is a possibility that he has been shot down by them at some point." He shuttered his optics tiredly: this had already been such a long war, even by Cybertronian standards, and he dearly hoped he would live to see peace.

He was surprised to feel a pair of arms encircle his lower abdomen and a head come to rest on his chest. Raising his arms and unshuttering his optics again, Optimus returned Bumblebee's embrace, giving comfort as much as receiving it. Bumblebee had only been a sparkling when Optimus had found him alone and frightened in the jumbled bodies left behind after a battle, and Optimus was like a Creator to the young scout. Although Bumblebee was now full adult in both body and function, there still existed a deep bond of affection between the two.

After a short time, Optimus broke the embrace, his optics flickering a silent thanks to the young scout. He stepped back.

"Bumblebee, I need you to go out and search for any sign of where Starscream might be. Take a joor to recharge, then go out and search in a concentric search pattern. There may be signs that are visible from the ground but not from the air: as far as we know only Starscream's two trine-mates have been actively searching for him. I will also contact Skyblast and Air Raid: there is no harm in conducting our own aerial search." Optimus stated.

"Right away sir!" said Bumblebee, his optics flashing determinedly. As he turned to go, Optimus spoke.

"Bumblebee?"

The scout turned to see Optimus regarding him with stern optics but a small smile.

"The joor's recharge is part of the order."

"Yes Sir." Said Bumblebee, walking out of the door.

The recharge chambers were attached to the medbay, and Bumblebee found himself walking behind the two Twins, who were chuckling about some prank or other they had pulled on Prowl. As they walked in, Ratchet looked up sourly.

"What do you two glitches want now? If this is about your paintwork, Sunsteaker, I told you before:_ you_ mix the paint because you're the artist, and you know what shade of yellow you are!"

"Who, us?" Sideswipe asked in mock-innocence. "We're just here to recharge, look at us!" He swept his hand to indicate that both he and his twin were unblemished. "It's not as if we've been jet-judoing Starscream y'know, and the other two have been flying too high to get."

"Yes, okay, you know where the recharge chambers are, and that's a point, thanks for reminding me." Ratched said to them. "When you go out next, if you see so much as a wingtip of Starscream, or any signs of his presence – like a crash site – I need to know. That Seeker has been missing for weeks now and we're stymied as the where he could be. He's never been missing for this long without cause before and –" His voice suddenly turned sharp as he noticed Sideswipe look at his twin with a smile, and then look down and start drawing a circle with one foot on the ground. "Sideswipe!" he snapped, making the red mech look up with an innocent look on his face. "I know that look, you're hiding something!" he said.

Sideswipe looked about to protest his innocence but the intensity of Ratchet's cerulean glare made him think twice. He looked at his brother, and they obviously communicated something to each other through their twin-bond, for they both nodded at each other and then turned their heads forwards to look back at Ratchet.

"Well, do you remember us talkin' a few orns back about the little incident that happened with Bumblebee?" Sideswipe asked the medic.

"Yes." Ratchet said. He was already beginning to guess that the Twins had more than a little to do with Starscream's disappearance, and his Spark flickered as he suddenly began to wonder just what they had done to the Seeker. He was having serious regrets about having told them, wishing he'd taken time to calm down and think things through before telling them.

"Well, we decided it was time Starscream was taught a lesson, like not to mess with our friends." Sideswipe said, taking over the conversation from his brother seamlessly.

"So we lay in wait for him, did our usual jet-judo on him, and stunned him." Sideswipe said.

"Then we removed all his bombs, disabled his weapons, and shorted his communications equipment so he couldn't call on his berthmates or troops for help." Sunstreaker said, taking over again, and looking very pleased with himself. "So then we chucked him in a little cave we fond, stuffed the entrance with rocks, melted them into an immovable seal, and left him there to contemplate the consequences of his actions." the yellow mech finished, quite unaware of the fluctuations of Ratchet's Spark as the medic registered what they were saying.

"When did you do this?" Ratchet asked sharply. "Please tell me it wasn't the last time you came in needing repair from jet-judo?" His voice held a slight tremor, and the twins exchanged a look.

"Well, that would be-" Sideswipe began.

"-about four orns or so ago, so yes, it was." finished Sunstreaker.

"Where!" Ratchet snapped at them, optics blazing. The twins looked at each other, totally nonplussed at Ratchet's response, but as they turned to face him again it was clear that the medic was very agitated about something: two of his biggest wrenches connected with their heads with a terrible clatter.

"Where did you put him?" the medic all but shouted at them.

"Well, it was a cave about twenty minutes from here-" Sideswipe started but then Ratchet cut him off.

"Coordinates! Databurst them to me!"

The look on the medic's face was enough to make Sideswipe comply without question: Ratchet suddenly brushed both they and Bumblebee aside, setting off out of the med bay at the fastest pace he could muster. The twins stared as Bumblebee tore out of the medical bay yelling for Optimus. They shrugged and then set off after Bumblebee: perhaps that way they might get some answers.

As they got there, they heard Bumblebee finish reporting to Optimus just what he'd overheard. Optimus thanked Bumblebee and was turning to address the Twins when a communication came over the intercom from the gate.

"Cliffjumper here, sir, an emergency override code was transmitted to the gates by Ratchet, and Ratchet and Ironhide have just taken out of here like the Unmaker himself was on their tail! What is going on?"

"I am currently investigation the reason for their precipitous departure myself." Optimus said. "Stand by ready to let them back in, there is a strong probability that they will be bringing back a patient."

He turned to the Twins. "Perhaps you could explain to me what you have done to Starscream, and maybe we can all get an idea of why Ratchet has left with Ironhide in such a hurry."

Turning to face Optimus, the Twins began their explanation.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

"So what is it ya want me fer, Ratch?" Ironhide asked as he sped along immediately behind Ratchet, who had set his sirens blaring and his lights flashing to clear traffic on the road.

"I'll need you to blast a slagged piece of rock hard enough to get rid of it without damaging somebody who may be the other side of it." Ratchet said. "You're the weapons specialist, I figured you would be the most likely person to be able to do that." Ratchet explained.

"This somethin' to do wi' Starscream?" asked Ironhide. Ratchet knew that most of Ironhide's enemies and unfortunately some of his colleagues, often thought that just because Ironhide was big, he was small on processor power, but Ratchet knew that that rugged exterior hid a shrewd mind.

"Yes, it is." said Ratchet. "I'm just hoping we are not too late."

Ratchet lapsed into silence as he once again accessed the files he'd downloaded from the Cybertron Medical Academy so many vorns ago.

The files on fliers had been accessed recently by Ratchet after Skyblast and Air Raid had turned up, and Ratchet recalled one of the files had mentioned the effect of confinement on the flying types.

Almost all fliers, with few exceptions, loved to fly. A highly effective way to discipline an errant flier was to confine them to their quarters for a number of joors, up to a maximum of twenty, or roughly five and a half Earth days depending on the severity of their transgression. Some harsher taskmasters had made the confinement worse for the flier or fliers in question by placing them underground, separated from their beloved sky by several feet of stone or rock. Few who experienced that repeated that particular error again.

The reason for the limit of twenty joors was because after that time the flier ran the risk of mental instability: a flier kept too long from their natural element tended to go insane. The time taken for this to happen varied from flier to flier: some would start to go mad after half an orn, others took several orns to go mad, but if confined long enough, the flier would succumb.

The degree of madness too, varied: some would develop eccentricities, others would have mood swings and instability, still others would attack without warning, even in the air and even bondmates and wingmates. Some would grow to fear the air, never taking wing again, or, worse, refuse to come out of the cell they had been put in, living their lives indoors or underground, not comprehending that once there had been a world outside and an element outside that they had lived in. Still others chose to kill themselves, if the confinement lasted long enough.

If found and released quickly enough, the mental problems could be reversed, with a lot of care, but Seekers, being very highly strung, were more prone to experience problems of that nature than non-Seeker fliers, and Starscream had now been in confinement for close to four joors, and Ratchet was frightened of what he might find.

Leaving the road, Ratchet killed the lights and sirens as they were no longer needed and, followed by Ironhide, headed across country to the co-ordinates provided by the Twins.

When they got there, Ratchet transformed, databursting to Ironhide to do likewise, grateful that the area was relatively uninhabited, and motioned him over.

"Come on, I need to get in there!" Ratchet said, as Ironhide looked at the plug carefully.

"Yer want anyone on the other side ter get out in one piece, right?" Ironhide asked. "To work out how hard ter hit it for and fer how long to crack it rather than shatter it, I need ter know it's composition, thickness, and weak spots." Ironhide said as he scanned it.

"What about vaporising it?" asked Ratchet.

"Bad idea if the person the other side's leanin' against it." Ironhide pointed out. "Would get hurt at least, worse if it creates superheated gases."

With that, Ironhide stepped back, pulling Ratchet back with him

As he took aim with one of his arm cannons, there was a loud bang, a cloud of smoke, and when the smoke cleared, there were several large cracks in the rock plug. Ironhide advanced.

"And now, these are small enough fer us to pull away." Ironhide said, beginning to do just that. Ratchet joined him, and Ratchet advanced into the ominously silent cave the moment the opening was wide enough for him to wriggle in.

He put his lights on, pointing them to the floor, bright enough to see by but not so bright as to blind the cave's occupant. Carefully, he advanced, one slow step after another, advancing his lights along the floor inch by inch.

At the back of the cave, there was movement. Ratchet carefully advanced.

"Starscream?" he called. A whimper answered his call. Ratchet moved his lights, and then he could see the Seeker's feet, grimy and scuffed. He took inventory of the damage as he moved the light slowly up the body. Scrapes and bangs, plenty of dirt, scratches, but nothing that seemed too serious. As the light advanced, Ratchet noticed that the Seeker's delicate wings had not avoided damage. Crumpling and bent tips suggested that Starscream had panicked and run into the walls or tripped and fallen on the uneven floor more than once. The Seeker was clinging to the wall behind him, shaking, hunched over to avoid bashing his head on the low roof, Ratchet guessed, the cave was big enough for _him_ to stand upright, but he only had a few feet head clearance.

As Ratchet moved the light up, Starscream gave another whimper, and turned his head to look in ratchet's direction.

Ratchet's Spark temperature felt as if it had dropped several degrees as he caught sight of the Seeker's face. Hs face was almost blank, without expression, except in the mouth which was very slightly open in a grimace that looked eerily like a twisted smile. Above the mouth, red optics glinted brightly…too brightly, and in them, Ratchet could see fear, confusion, and a hint of madness.

Ratchet could see that Starscream was teetering on the brink of insanity.


	3. Chapter 3

Claustrophobia

Chapter Two.

Ratchet stopped advancing at that point - he didn't want Starscream to think he was trying to corner or trap him, and he was between the Seeker and the now-available exit.

"Starscream?" he queried. "Starscream, it's going to be okay, I'm a friend, I want to help you." the medic slowly extended a hand, and the Seeker's optics watched it as it drew closer warily.

"Ra-Ratchet?" Starscream replied, in a thin and terrified voice. Ratchet filed the response away in his processors as a good sign: the Seeker knew who he was.

"Yes, Starscream, it's me, Ratchet. I'm a medic and I've come to get you out of here." He kept the hand extended, watching Starscream carefully to see what he would do.

Starscream lifted one trembling hand from the rock, reached slowly towards Ratchet with it. Ratchet smiled encouragingly but made no other move. Ratchet watched as the Seeker tentatively touched his hand, drew back, reached out, and grabbed at the hand. Ratchet closed his hand firmly over Starscream's in a way he hoped implied stability rather than captivity. Starscream edged towards Ratchet, one hand still contacting the rock, then he pushed himself away, towards Ratchet, grasping his shoulder, sliding the arm down his back, and clinging to the medic as if his Spark depended on it. Ratchet shutter-blinked: none of the literature had suggested a need for physical closeness, but then again Starscream had had no contact with another for four orns either: he was dealing with a form of sensory deprivation as well as the madness of the forcibly grounded.

Ratchet swayed: the Seeker was a third again his height and top-heavy, but Ratchet's built-in stabilising feature kept both himself and his patient upright. Starscream's hand left Ratchet's back, and Ratchet could feel the Decepticon pushing against him as he stretched his hand out behind Ratchet.

"S-sky…" the Seeker stuttered pleadingly.

"Yes Starscream, let's go, I'm taking you out to where you can see the sky." Ratchet said, taking first one step back, then another. As Ratchet had hoped he would, Starscream followed.

They made slow progress until they were five foot from the opening of the cave, when Starscream suddenly resisted his pulling. Turning his head, Ratchet saw Ironhide peering in.

**Back off! Back away! You're scaring him! **Ratchet databurst, and the big weapons specialist backed away.

**I'll go relieve Cliffjumper at the gates, make sure you get in without issues, Cliffjumper can be a bit hot-headed at times. **Ironhide databurst back.

Ratchet tuned his attention back to Starscream, who was now rocking back and forth, transferring his weight from one foot to the other. Ratchet thought that the motion signified uncertainty rather than fear, Starscream had begged for the sky, but it was still possible that he was scared of it.

"Come on, a few more steps and you'll be out of the cave, free, out in the open air." Ratchet cajoled the Seeker. Once again he tried pulling back, and this time Starscream followed him. A few more steps, and Starscream was beyond the entrance of the cave. Starscream had stopped, and looking up, Ratchet could see Starscream's head was tipped back.

"Sky…I can see…the _sky_!" said Starscream, a note of happiness entering his otherwise distressed voice. It was the longest sentence that Starscream had so far used, something that Ratchet once again saw as a good thing. Starscream's hands left Ratchet as Starscream tipped forwards, and Ratchet gripped harder as he tried to stop Starscream from toppling. Then Ratchet hung on even harder as he realised, a little too late, what was happening: Starscream wasn't falling over, he was taking wing!

"Starscream-_no_!" said Ratchet, too late, as Starscream activated his engines and took off, Ratchet clinging to the Seeker's hips. He wobbled, as Ratchet feared he would, the damage to his wings and the seven-ton medic dangling from his hips destabilising him. He tilted one way, then the other, then banked sharply to one side, unable to keep straight or gain altitude: he would also be low on energy and fuel, Ratchet figured.

Ratchet managed, somehow, to swing out on one hand to grab one of Starscream's arms, pulling on it to swing his own body over to the other side of Starscream: he did not want the Seeker to flip over and crash on his back. The shift in weight pulled the other side down, and Ratchet's feet hit the ground and then Starscream crashed, right on top of Ratchet, who took the brunt of the impact.

There was something to be said for multiple redundancy in his systems, Ratchet thought as he rebooted. Starscream was still wriggling atop him: wriggling and keening wordlessly. Slag! He did not need to have doubt of his flying ability heaped on top of everything else!

"It's okay, Starscream, your wings are damaged and you're out of fuel, I'll fix your wings and you will fly again, I promise!" Ratchet said. The keening subsided, and then stopped.

"I..I will? Promise?" pleaded the broken Seeker, in a voice that made Ratchet's Spark ache.

"Yes, Starscream, I promise, you _will_ fly again." Ratchet said, hoping he wasn't making a promise he couldn't keep.

Ratchet could mend the physical damage and rectify the fuel problem easily, but the mental distress was another matter. So far, all the indicators were that with the right sort of support and care, Starscream could be coaxed back to a semblance of sanity, but Ratchet was no processor doctor and could only rely on medical files that had few similar cases to refer back to.

As Starscream got to hands and knees, Ratchet pushed himself back to his feet, holding out his hands to Starscream again. Starscream took them gently, turning them over in his own hands and examining them.

"Medic's hands…healing hands?" he asked hopefully, those unsettling optics meeting Ratchet's own again. Ratchet nodded.

"Yes, Starscream." He tried to speak in an encouraging tone of voice. "Healing hands that can mend your wings and help you fly again." He smiled at the still-hunched Seeker, who kissed each of Ratchet's hands almost reverently before he slid his ownarms back around Ratchet: Ratchet manoeuvred so he could guide Starscream to walk sideways on, like a crab, so he could still hold on to them but neither would have to walk blind.

It took some time for them to reach the Autobot base like this, and a few times Ratchet had to remind the Seeker that he couldn't fly till Ratchet had fixed his wings, and that to mend his wings they needed to get to the base. Starscream for his part acquiesced, and that compliancy in itself troubled Ratchet because when he was in his right mind, Starscream was in a different class of awkward altogether.

Eventually they reached the Autobot base, and Ratchet was relieved to see that Ironhide had opened the gates wide. Once again Starscream paused, this time just before the gates, doing the same forward-back-forward-back rocking from foot to foot as he had at the entrance to the cave. A few more words of encouragement, and

Ratchet was able to get Starscream over the threshold, inside the gates, and as he drew the Seeker further into the big courtyard, Ratchet blew a relieved sigh through his vents. The first hard part was over.

Starscream needed recharging, mending, and refuelling, pretty much in that order, Ratchet mused, pulling Starscream towards the Base, and sending a databurst to open the main Base building door as the gates rumbled shut behind them.

It would be a bit of a tight squeeze, Ratchet thought, although Air Raid and Skyblast had not had problems, they were both smaller and differently configured to Starscream.

At that point Starscream stiffened in Ratchet's arms, and began pulling back, back away from the Base, so hard that he dragged Ratchet a couple of feet with him.

"What the _frag_?" Ratchet said, as Starscream began to cry out, babbling not-quite words and almost falling over in his panic. He keened again, twisting in the medic's grip, seemingly careless of the fact that the action bent and curled the edges of his wings. Starscream's desperation was such that Ratchet was forced to release his grip on him lest Starscream's struggles caused more damage.

Starscream ran for the gate, clawing at it, and Ratchet ran after him. He stroked the Seeker's hide, trying to work out what had panicked him so.

"No…please…promise…not again…sorry…please…no…"Starscream said, then let out a keen again as he turned, this time pressing his back against the gates as he looked back towards the Base. Ratchet was nonplussed. He couldn't see anyone or anything there that could account for Starscream's panic, there was just the Base, and the empty doorway into it….oh _SLAG_!

It was at that point that Ratchet realised what had panicked Starscream so. He saw the Base door, a space beyond….and then the image of the cave mouth overlaid itself over the Base door in his mind.

Ratchet swore internally, while trying to soothe Starscream out loud. Of course Starscream would panic at Ratchet trying to take him into the Base. As far as Starscream was concerned, Ratchet was taking him underground again, inside a room that would again seem as much of a prison as the cave, keeping the Seeker away from the sky.

"Shh, Starscream, it's okay, I won't take you in there, I promise, I can treat you out here in the courtyard, hush." Ratchet said.

As Starscream's panic subsided, Ratchet wondered exactly how he would manage that.


	4. Chapter 4

-1Claustrophobia

Chapter Three.

A/N: This chapter is dedicated to Dendey, whose request has shaped part of the direction of this fic. Contains slash.

Ratchet stood in the Base courtyard soothing Starscream, stroking his hide while his processors whirled. He realised that the only way he could treat Starscream would turn half the Base upside down and involve a lot of work, but was effectively the only viable option if they wanted any chance to repair his mind as well as his body.

Ratchet was going to have to construct a temporary open-air medbay.

The logistics were going to be horrible, but he could see no other option short of offlining the Seeker…a betrayal of trust that could take orns, if ever, to set right afterwards. He commed Cliffjumper and Mirage, asked them to bring out the biggest mobile berth he had. He was now doubly glad he'd ordered several of the movable, foldable berths. He had at first ordered them when new Autobots arrived, because they could be folded away flat in storage till they were needed, and he feared not having enough berths if they fought a battle and took heavy injuries. The feared battle had not yet taken place, and the berths had stayed in storage.

He sent another databurst to Jazz, asking him to collect up all the connectable recharging leads he could find, for he'd have to get Starscream recharged out here as well. All the Autobots had originally had to recharge in this inefficient manner, but the leads had been stored for emergencies when the recharge chambers had been installed. As Cliffjumper and Mirage struggled with the folding berth Ratchet had asked for, they both stopped and stared at the intertwined Seeker and medic that stood in the courtyard. **Stop staring and set up the berth. Secure it to the floor so it doesn****'****t topple. **Ratchet databurst sourly.

Cliffjumper went back into the base as Mirage set the berth up. It was one of those with a tilting surface, Ratchet was glad to note, he wouldn't be leaving Starscream lying flat on his back and thus feeling totally vulnerable. With this system, Starscream could be positioned so he could look at the sky, but step off the berth if he so desired.

Cliffjumper was back out a moment later with Hound in tow: Hound had some very strong adhesive and a bolt gun, which he used to securely attach the berth base to the asphalt of the courtyard. A moment later Jazz came out, carrying a mound of leads. He made his way over to Ratchet, dropped the leads at his feet and said "What gives, Ratchet?" with a pointed look at the clingy Seeker

"Can't say, patient confidentiality, Jazz, suffice it to say that Starscream needs treatment and I will be treating him here." Ratchet told the silver saboteur.

He left the leads where they were, leading Starscream over to the berth, and managed to coax him onto it. He tilted it and locked it so that when Starscream was reclining, he could see the sky, but at such an angle that he could step off and stand. Ratchet was about to tell Jazz to bring the leads over when Starscream suddenly made a grab for him, almost falling off the berth and letting out a scream of terror.

Ratchet almost fell at the unexpected grab and movement, felt Starscream pulling him away. Looking up at the incoherently gibbering Seeker, he followed the direction of his staring optics. When he saw what - or rather whom - Starscream has spotted, Ratchet came out with a curse so colourful that Jazz actually stopped and stared. As Ratchet allowed Starscream to pull him back, but controlled the direction and speed of his retreat, he databurst to both Ironhide and Optimus. **Someone get those twin nuisances out of the Base and I mean ****right**** out! They are terrorising my patient!**

Ironhide was the first to act, opening the gates and grabbing one twin each by an arm. Ratchet hurriedly swung Starscream round so his back was to both the Twins and the temptingly-open gate. He really did _not _need to go hunting for Starscream in this state. The Twins were protesting, but Ironhide nodded over towards Starscream and Ratchet. The Twins took one look and stopped resisting, much to Ratchet's relief, and allowed Ironhide to take them outside the gates while Cliffjumper ran to close them behind him - probably at a databurst instruction from Ironhide.

With the yellow and red mechs gone, Ratchet was able to carefully and slowly lead the Seeker back over to the berth, and further coaxing got him to lie on it. He wouldn't let Ratchet go, however, insisting on holding on to one arm. Ratchet managed to get Jazz and Hound to help connect the long cables to power points in the med bay, then link several of the cables together so he could clip them to Starscream, for the Seeker was badly in need of recharge.

Starscream's optics fixed on the sky above and he reached out one arm with a keen, and began trying to rise. For a nasty moment, Ratchet thought that Starscream was going to rise and try to fly before Ratchet could fix his wings, and while dangerously low on energy. However, to Ratchet's relief, with plenty of caressing and stroking and whispered assurances that he could fly later once he was recharged and his wings were repaired, Starscream lay back, little tremors occasionally running through his body. Small keens still escaped him, and his optics never left the sky, but he stayed lying down. His other hand stayed firmly attached to one of Ratchet's arms.

Ratchet held out his free arm, looking back and nodding to Jazz, who brought over the recharge cables and put them in Ratchet's hands. Ratchet quickly found two suitable attachment points, hooking the cables on to the Seeker. He databurst Cliffjumper, whom he'd sent back to the med bay, to turn on the power. As the recharge cables pulsed with energy, Starscream's overstressed systems powered down into recharge, one after the other. All, that is, except the servos of the clinging hand and the arm.

Ratchet huffed air through his vents, Starscream obviously still felt the need to hold onto someone. Ironically, the Seeker, in his madness, needed an anchor, his one connection to sanity, and it seemed that Ratchet was it.

There was only one thing for it: sliding the recharging Seeker over, Ratchet climbed onto the berth beside him, lying down and adjusting himself so they could both be comfortable, and allowed himself to enter first-level shutdown.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

He awoke to find both of Starscream's arms wrapped about him, the Seeker curled against his back spoon-fashion, although his scans revealed that the Seeker was still deep in much-needed recharge. Well, Ratchet was pleased that Starscream was getting the rest he needed, and he fully intended to leave him in for the maximum twelve hours needed for the total recharge of a Seeker. However, he doubted he would be able to free himself from Starscream's embrace without rousing him, so it looked as if Ratchet, too, was in for a twelve-hour period of enforced rest. Or maybe not…

Switching to a high resolution, Ratchet performed a deep scan on Starscream, which gave him a better idea about where to start repairing the Seeker and how, and also used up much of the remaining time.

When Starscream stirred against him, Ratchet reached one hand down to cover one of the Decepticon leader's own, and said "Okay Starscream, I need you to roll on your front for me so I can get on with repairing your wings." He pushed up, intending to roll off the berth, but as he did so, Starscream pulled him back towards him mid-turn, so he was facing the Seeker. Then, before he could react, Starscream's derma hungrily latched on to Ratchet's own.

Ratchet tried to pull back - not that the surprise kiss was unpleasant, it wasn't at all, and Ratchet could tell by Starscream's

technique that he had plenty of experience of how to kiss. However, medical ethics dictated that as Ratchet's patient, and because Starscream was not in his right mind, to continue the encounter would be wrong. There was just one problem: Starscream didn't seem to want to let go.

He pushed harder, managing to get one arm between his own body and that of the Seeker. He used that to gain extra leverage, and began trying to pry the Decepticon leader off him. Starscream uttered a cry, an unhappy little keen.

"Please - I need - please!" he cried.

"No, you don't, this is not right, I need to repair your wings." Ratchet said.

"Please - if I can't yet fly - this will serve to distract me for a little longer." said Starscream, looking at Ratchet. "I need this, it will give me a recent focus to hold on to."

When Starscream locked his optics with Ratchet's own, Ratchet was surprised to see that some of the mad light had left Starscream's optics. For a brief period, the Seeker seemed lucid, which entirely changed the situation. If it was a situation of medical need…

Briefly pausing to file his decision and the reasons for it in his memory, he leaned forwards into the kiss, snaking his arms around the Seeker's narrow waist and reaching up to stroke and caress. This action too could serve a dual purpose: while stimulating Starscream's sensitive flying appendages, he could also use his sensitive, sensor-loaded digits to do a tactile fingertip assessment of the damage to Starscream's wings and fuselage, and unplugged the recharge leads as he did, casting them away before the pair could get tangled in them.

His nimble digits probed seams, both arousing and inspecting the Seeker, as he used his legs to stroke and caress Starscream's own. Their glossas performed a complicated dance around and with each other as Starscream for his part explored Ratchet's plating. Ratchet brought one of his hands back around to Starscream's front, sliding it between the upper shoulder and the folded-down tailfin. Starscream twitched and bucked against Ratchet, that area was very sensitive. As Starscream himself found gaps and chinks to explore in Ratchet's armour, it was Ratchet's turn to gasp.

Ratchet could sense that this would not be long or drawn out, Starscream's isolation had increased his tactile sensitivity, and Ratchet's finger-sensors detected the Seeker's swiftly-building overload. He quickly adjusted his own skin sensor receptors to maximum, not wanting to be left needy. Pressing himself against Starscream, he moved the hand between them down to Starscream's cockpit, probing and feeling for cracks and chips.

The stimulation of the sensitive canopy pushed Starscream over the edge, and he screamed his overload into Ratchet's mouth cavity, as his Spark flared. This in turn stimulated Ratchet enough to overload too, and they shook together on the berth, blue discharge rolling over them both, and then they collapsed into a heap together.

A few minutes later, Ratchet roused, disentangling himself from Starscream, whose overload had thrown him straight into a reboot. Carefully dulling Starscream's plating sensors, and nudging his reboot into a recharge loop, he got out his medical tools, and set to work on mending Starscream's wings.


	5. Chapter 5

Claustrophobia.

Chapter Four.

A/N: Thanks to Shadow, Caz and Bolt of the International Nerd Herd for several of the ideas in this chapter.

1 orn equals about 13 human days.

Ratchet inwardly cursed as he felt Starscream beginning to stir under his ministrations. Usually when a medic put processors into a recharge loop, it generally took a medic to take them out of it, but cases where it had happened spontaneously had occured, albeit rare. Nobody was sure what caused it, and Ratchet had hoped never to be unlucky enough to have it happen to someone in his care, but Seekers were singular creatures as it was, and Ratchet's patient especially so. Once again inwardly cursing the Seeker's contrariness, he quickly finished the work on Starscream's wings.

Of course the wings were only the main problem, Starscream's thrusters and tail fins needed much work before the Decepticon would be ready to fly, but the problem was that once awake, Starscream's sky-hunger – which could have been the reason for the aborted loop in the first place – would be back, stronger than ever, and Ratchet was not at all confident that he could persuade the Seeker to wait till he had finished.

Starscream abruptly sat up, the mad light in his optics confirming Ratchet's worst fears. Unless Ratchet could find a way to calm him, or to occupy him with something else, Starscream would try to fly, and at best crash into the force-field over the base.

Inspiration struck Ratchet, although he had to wrestle with the question of how ethically questionable this would be if everything didn't work to plan, and he grabbed the Seeker by his wing-edges, pushing him back down onto the berth in a seated position. As the flier looked at him, Ratchet slipped behind him, sliding his hands in firm strokes down and across the Decepticon's newly-repaired wings, stroking flaps and caressing leading edges, then letting his fingers slide under the edges and then smooth up the other sides, pulling back on them so Starscream's back was pressed to Ratchet's chest. The Seeker relaxed, acquiescing to the touches, a tremor running through his frame. As he caressed, Ratchet spoke into the Seeker's audio.

"There, Starscream, feel my hands on your wings, feel how smoothly they glide over the surface. Your wings are repaired, you are almost ready, but not yet, for flight. Feel how much work I've put into them, I know a Seeker's wings have to be silky-smooth to cut into the air with a delicacy I cannot even imagine. There are no bends, no breaks, no cracks and no rough places. Feel how sleek they feel, no friction against my fingers, no catching or chafing. Your wings are almost ready, Starscream, but not quite yet."

Ratchet made sure he spoke the last word at the same moment as one hand slid up to caress the very tip of one wing, the other hand dipped briefly into a shoulder-vent, and he took the edge of the top of the wing not being touched between his dermaplating and gave it a brief suck. Starscream gave a short, stuttering cry as his vents hitched and he arched his back and threw his head back, forcing the wing edge further into Ratchet's mouth and pushing the shoulder-vent back towards the hand that had touched it.

The Seeker relaxed almost immediately after, but then twisted swiftly, hands reaching, and Ratchet suddenly found himself on his back on the berth, and in an optic-shutter the agile Seeker was astride the medic's waist, his hands pinning Ratchet's shoulders to the berth. His optics sought those of the medic, and Ratchet was pleased to see that both parts of his gamble had worked: not only would his seduction of the Seeker keep his sky-hunger at bay, but that lucidity was back in Starscream's optics. Starscream was very well aware of what he was doing, in fact seemed to be taking control of the situation, thus Ratchet could stop worrying about the ethics of his unorthodox treatment.

The Seeker atop him slid his hands down Ratchet's chest slowly, leaning forwards as he did so. Ratchet's vents clicked up a notch , and raised his hands to let his fingers gently touch and caress Starscream's face, as the Seeker leaned in close to the medic. His fingers twined about the bars holding the medic's lights to his chassis, and as Starscream gave them a gentle, experimental tug, a small cry escaped Ratchet's vocaliser.

Ratchet moved his own hands across, making for the shoulder vents again, caressing and stroking the insides of them teasingly, making the Seeker above him push against him. He then slid his hands down, playing with the edges of the vent casings in Starscream's body, drawing a mewl from Starscream before sliding the hands down further, rubbing at seams as his hands travelled down. Ratchet hazily reflected that it was a good thing much of Starscream's height was legs and shoulder-vents, for the Decepticon leader was a third again higher than he was.

He leaned to one side, feeling the piping supporting his lights tug at their attachment points as the Seeker kept hold of them, and Ratchet reached his glossa out to lick along one smooth wing-surface. The flier above him shuddered and cried out, transferring one hand to one of Ratchet's own side-seams, digits digging in.

Ratchet's vents stuttered at the abrupt invasion, and he keened, working his own fingers further down until they were curling around and caressing the Seeker's aft, making Starscream wiggle in pleasure. "Oh, you are _good_, Autobot!" he gasped, whining as Ratchet's fingers scrabbled for purchase on the shiny red paintwork of his aft-plating. As Ratchet finally managed to secure a grip, he used the strength of his chest and arms to pull the Seeker further up his body, till Starscream's cockpit was right in front of his face. Grinning wickedly, Ratchet extended his glossa and gave the shiny canopy a long but swift lick.

Starscream lived up to his name at that, screeching in pleasure, the unexpected stimulation making the fingers in Ratchet's seams push deeper and the hands on Ratchet's light fittings jerk so hard that Ratchet felt a couple of the attachments tear free. Oh well, they could always be replaced, he supposed, it didn't hurt that much, and the energon loss would be minimal.

Ratchet felt the Seeker's long legs reflexively squeeze against his own, and Ratchet moved his hands back up to Starscream's body, up to where he could reach the neck, and began stroking the exposed cabling and wiring there that he knew was sensitive on _all _mechs and femmes. Being a medic had several advantages, and knowing common sensitive spots was just one of them!

Starscream bucked, all his limbs tensed, and Ratchet felt the last of the weakened attachments for his lights tear free. He wasn't bothered, he'd had worse in both love and war, he was used to _Ironhide_ forgetting his own strength at times like this. As he dug his fingers under the Seeker's chest plating to caress the sensitive lines below, his dermaplates and glossa licked, mouthed and nuzzled at the sensitive canopy so temptingly close. Starscream squealed, his hand finally abandoning the lights, moving to Ratchet's shoulders, gripping and fondling a wing mirror they found. It happened to be one of Ratchet's own more unusual sensitive spots, and he mewled at the touch, writhing beneath the Seeker.

Starscream shifted his weight, sliding himself back down Ratchet, abrading the small injuries where the lights had been attached but keeping his one hand on the wing mirror as the other burrowed a little deeper into Ratchet's side seam. Starscream's questing digits found wires to tweak and intriguing cable bundles and bumps to fondle, which made Ratchet squeal and wriggle beneath Starscream. His vents hitched up another notch, and Ratchet managed to reach his suddenly trembling hands down to Starscream's chest vent edges again, stroking them lightly, as he found that by inclining his head he could still lick the top of the Seeker's canopy.

Starscream screeched again, hand releasing the wing mirror to grip at Ratchet's shoulder plating, as his optics began to flicker on and off. Ratchet himself was close to overload, but it seemed the Seeker was eager for more than that, for the medic heard a click from somewhere inside Starscream's canopy, then he felt it beginning to split down the middle and draw apart, at the same time as he felt Starscream's hand slide down from his shoulder to fumble at Ratchet's own chest-catches.

Starscream's hands were none too steady by this point, and Ratchet happily released his own catches internally as the Seeker slid down a little further to align their chests correctly, something that was more instinctive than consciously decided.

As Starscream used his free arm to crush the medic's chest to his own, the Seeker's Spark flared, and then the two Sparks came together, touching and flaring, the light they generated impossible to look at directly. This bothered neither Starscream nor Ratchet, as they both overloaded within a Sparkbeat of each other, the mingled cries of medic and patient combined carrying across the courtyard of the Autobot base and beyond.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

For Ironhide, it was turning into a frustrating day.

First of all he was missing time he would usually spend with Ratchet, something he was unable to do becauseRatchet was having to spend all of his time tending to Starscream. Ironhide didn't mind that, he honestly didn't. It was one of the things he had learned early on. If you took a medic as a partner, sometimes the patients had to come before you. Ironhide fully understood that, after all if he had guard duty or they went on high alert, duty came first, that was natural.

He didn't even mind that the patient in question was Starscream, he had been there and had SEEN the state the Seeker had been left in after four orns underground. He sympathised, he really did, he honestly hoped Ratchet could nurse the sky-starved Seeker back to something approaching sanity, and not just because it meant he'd get Ratchet back with him.

He didn't even really mind Ratchet's unusual treatment, oh _envious_ perhaps but not _jealous_, he knew Ratchet sometimes had other lovers, why, so did _he_ at times.

No, what was getting Ironhide frustrated at that moment was the fact that he could both see and hear what the two were doing, and it was getting him _charged_. There wasn't really much he could do about it except try to keep a handle on it and distract himself by checking the force-field readings, which were pretty dull compared to the enticing sights and sounds of the activity on the berth in the courtyard.

Of course he could pull rank, put someone else on the gate and go and find someone like Optimus or Bluestreak who would probably be happy to help him out. The problem with that was that said replacement would probably end up with the same problem, and quite frankly, Ironhide wouldn't wish his situation on his worst enemy, let alone one of his comrades in arms.

As the sounds from the berth got louder and Starscream let out a loud screech, Ironhide tore his optics from the sight of Starscream arching in reaction to something Ratchet was doing, and tried to focus on the force-field readings again.

A spike in the readings had his immediate attention, and he knew that the readings indicated that something was on the top dome part of the field, It didn't seem to be straining the force-field any, but it warranted investigation.

Walking out into the courtyard, Ironhide tilted his head back to see what had caused the spike, and _stared_.

Above him, half-kneeling and half-lying on the highest point of the force-field bubble, were Thundercracker and Skywarp. Their optics were glued to the activity on the berth below, and it was quite obviously having the same effect on them as it was on him. The main difference was that they were not on duty and they had each other, and were taking full advantage of the second fact.

Black and purple hands were grabbing and stroking at wings and vent edges, legs were twining and derma were locking, and as they broke another kiss, Ironhide saw their glossas darting and twining about each other. He suppressed a needy groan, torn between going back to looking at something that wouldn't increase his charge, and the need to watch the two on the force-field in case it was a cover for something else, a ploy to try and breach the field.

As another loud cry sounded, this composed of two voices, Ironhide's optics were drawn to the two figures on the berth, their linked chests obscured by a barely-contained glow like the brilliance of a dozen suns. Forced to avert his eues from the brilliance, this time, Ironhide was unable to suppress a groan, and it drew the attention of the two above him, who had also been forced to look away.

"Let us in, we're his wing brothers, we need to see him." Skywarp said.

"We'll promise on anything you want that we will not betray your trust, but we need to see him and find out what happened." that was Thundercracker and his concern sounded genuine.

"I can tell yeh what happened." he said, moving to the gatehouse, for he was pretty sure they were sincere, though he readied his cannons just in case. As he manipulated the controls to relax the force field enough to allow them to slowly sink through it, he explained in brief about what the Twins had done and why.

"They didn't know it would affect him so badly. _None_ of us did except Ratchet." he explained as he walked with them over to where Ratchet and Starscream were collapsed in a heap. "And the Twins didn't see fit to inform Ratchet 'til four orns had gone by, an' that was only because he caught them smirkin' about it."

Thundercracker and Skywarp were checking the two over. "They're both rebooting, and then probably recharging." said Skywarp.

"Well, we should probably leave them to it, if what Ironhide here has told us is true, Starscream has probably had little enough recharge as it is." Thundercracker said.

"Which gives _us_ a chance to finish off what we started." Skywarp said with a sexy grin at Thundercracker. He turned towards the black and blue Seeker, then turned back to look at Ironhide. "You can join in if you like."

"Out th' back, please, outta sight?" he asked, as he commed for someone to take over the gate. As they looked at him with puzzlement, he explained. "Or young Mirage is gonna end up joinin' us, an' when _he_ overloads, he goes invisible. Most disconcertin'." Ironhide said, not willing to admit his own need out loud even though he knew that they knew anyway.

Chuckling, the two Seekers went with Ironhide around the corner as Mirage went to man the gate.

The young blue and white mech was startled from his perusal of the screens five minutes later by a chorus of overload, in three parts.


	6. Chapter 6

Claustrophobia.

Chapter Five.

When Ratchet and Starscream were gently woken by touches to their faces and shoulders, they found themselves looking into the optics of Starscream's two Seeker-brothers. After leaving Ironhide around the back to reboot in his own time, they had come back to attend to their original reason for being here.

"How is he?" Thundercracker asked the medic. The optics of both he and his younger wing-mate were wide with concern. "Will he fly again?"

Ratchet grunted, collecting his thoughts after his too-brief recharge.

"Yes, his wings are sound, and once I have repaired his thrusters and tailfins and buffed his fuselage smooth again, he should be able to fly as well as before this incident."

"Physically yes, I understand that almost all physical injuries can be mended, but what about his _mind_?" The blue Seeker looked at Ratchet imploringly. "We dare not risk flying with him if his mental distress has left him unbalanced."

"I have reason to believe that Starscream will eventually recover from the effects of his incarceration in a cave." Ratchet said. "There have been several encouraging signs that with the right care and attention he can be – excuse me!" This last was uttered as Ratchet moved to grab at Starscream's arm as the latter tried to stand and looked ready to try and take off.

Thundercracker and Skywarp joined him, moving either side of Starscream and stroking his arms and face. Starscream fixed his gaze on the sky, and whimpered.

"He needs the sky now. We can take him, it will quiet him." Thundercracker said to Ratchet. "You had no way of getting him there, but as we are now here, it would be cruel to continue to deny him that which he has been denied for too long already. We do not wish the recovery you have started to be destroyed by further deprivation when we can help him achieve a measure of what he yearns for."

Ratchet nodded – it made sense. Although Starscream was now out of the cave, he had still not been able to fly and that in itself, over a long enough period of time, was enough to tip Seekers irrevocably over the edge. Ratchet did not want to lose Starscream when he was so close to healing him. Broken bodies could generally be healed. Broken minds were not so easy to fix.

**Mirage, drop the force-field entirely. **He commed to the slender mech still manning the gate. To Thundercracker he said "Please bring him back. He still needs work done."

"We will. For a grounder, you have coped well with his condition. To continue treating him we would need an outside setup like you have improvised, but we cannot be as visible to this country's military."

As the force-field flickered out entirely, each Seeker took a secure grip on Starscream's waist and one arm each and took off vertically, with Ratchet watching. Starscream at first whimpered and twitched, but hen he quieted and allowed his bearers to rise and then fly away with him.

As they quickly dwindled to become mere dots in the sky, Ratchet wasn't sure if he'd just been insulted or complimented.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Half an hour later they returned, landing as gracefully and precisely as they had taken off. Ratchet could immediately see that the flight had done Starscream much good. He did not protest, nor stare at the sky as his wing-brothers led him back to the berth. He rolled onto his side, his posture relaxed, and did not even try to resist as Ratchet put his processors back into a recharge loop.

"When he is ready to fly under his own power, call me." said Skywarp, databursting his comm. to Ratchet. "He may need us. Please ensure the force-field is down before you do so, I will bring both of us." Ratchet nodded, his processors already thinking through how to repair Starscream's battered thrusters.

"Then we will see you later, medic." Thundercracker said. He and Skywarp once again took off, and once they were suitably far enough away. Mirage put the force-field back on at full power.

At that point, Ironhide came back around the corner, looking a little groggy. "I'll take back over now Mirage, sorry to call yer through when yer meant to be off duty."

"You are going _nowhere_ except straight into recharge, Ironhide!" said Ratchet, noticing how exhausted yet relaxed the Weapons specialist seemed to be. "_Now_." He ordered. "Just what the _frag _have you been up to that you've got so exhausted?"

"That's a long story, Ratchet." Said Mirage. He turned to Ironhide. "It's okay, you go recharge, I'll pull the rest of your shift, you can repay the favour another time," he said with a smile.

"The story can wait till I'm less busy, I have work to do. Thank you Mirage, and I mean it, Ironhide, recharge _now_!" Ratchet said.

"I'm goin', I'm goin'!" the big mech said, turning towards the base entrance. "Thanks, Mirage, I owe yuh one."

Once he was certain that Ironhide was doing as Ratchet had ordered, he turned back to his work on Starscream's thrusters as Mirage headed back to the gate. Now, where was that metal de-stressing tool…?

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

As he finished up repairing Starscream's left tailfin, Ratchet realised that by taking Starscream up, the other two had done him a great favour. This time, Starscream did not start coming out of the recharge loop early, he didn't seem to need to use Ratchet as a teddy-mech, and whereas earlier he had twitched and cried out when recharging, now he was as still and quiet as a sparkling with a full tank resting on a warm chest.

Reaching into his subspace, he took out the special polish and cloth, and began to buff the Seeker's fuselage.

oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo oOo

Two hours later, Ratchet had to admit he had done all he could to make Starscream airworthy again. His wings and tail fins were straight, his fuselage as smooth as Ratchet could get it, he smelt pleasantly of polish, and he looked as good physically as Ratchet had ever seen him.

He commed Cliffjumper to bring out the vat of jet fuel, two cubes of low-grade energon, and the refuelling stylus. He took Starscream's processors out of the recharge loop, and then gently touched Starscream's face and shoulders as he had seen the other two Seekers do earlier to wake the flier. Of course, he could refuel Starscream while he was still recharging, but he figured Starscream would prefer to be awake and feel the refuelling going on.

He sat up so suddenly that he almost knocked Ratchet over, who grabbed hold to steady himself.

"I'm calling your wingbrothers now, I'm having fuel brought out so you can fill your tanks, some energon to enjoy, and then I think they might want you to fly with them" he said as he first databurst to Mirage to lower the force-field and then commed Skywarp as he had said he would.

"Fly?" said Starscream, sounding both eager and nervous. "Under my own power? _Can_ I?"

Ratchet swore inwardly as he tried to smile encouragingly. "I've done the best I can, and you look airworthy to me." he said.

"How would _you_ know, you're not a flyer." Starscream said, and Ratchet didn't know how to answer that one.

"Well, here, refuel anyway." he said.

He had just given the stylus to Starscream so he could control his own refuelling when a loud bang shattered the silence as Skywarp, his arms wrapped about Thundercracker, appeared from seemingly nowhere in the courtyard, dropping the five feet or so to the ground from where they had appeared. Ratchet realised that Skywarp had used his special ability to get there, a procedure that was likely to be hideously fuel-hungry. The two disentangled themselves and then came over to where Starscream was sat, and stroked his upper arms encouragingly.

"You look _wonderful_, Air Commander," said Thundercracker, sliding a hand down Starscream's chassis appreciatively. Skywarp too seemed unable to tear his optics from Starscream's shiny form.

"I do?" he asked, as Skywarp joined Thundercracker in stroking the other Seeker.

"Oh, _yes_!" purred Skywarp, nuzzling at Starscream's neck.

"Then-shall we fly?" moaned Starscream pleadingly, dropping the stylus, which Ratchet quickly caught with one hand. His other hand grabbed Starscream's wrist.

"Not without going through pre-flight checks! I'm not letting you out only for you to crash because I missed something!" Ratchet said. As three pairs of red optics turned to look at him, Ratchet wondered if he's gone too far. Surely the Seekers did pre-flight checks? All the fliers he had known had done it as part of their routine, although Ratchet had to admit the fliers he'd known could be counted on the digits of one hand.

"He's right, Starscream." said Thundercracker, with grudging respect. "We always check before we go up, you know that, and you're flying for the first time in orns. Run the checks, then we'll go up."

As Starscream nodded and his optics dimmed, Ratchet held the stylus out.

"You two may as well refuel, the fuel is here and don't tell me you couldn't use it." he said. Neither of the Seekers even put up a token fight, but eagerly filled their tanks with the available fuel. Coming Cliffjumper to bring some more energon, Ratchet handed one of the two cubes he was holding to Starscream, and the other to Skywarp while Thundercracker filled up. As Cliffjumper brought the spare cubes up and Thundercracker passed over the fuelling rod to Skywarp, Ratchet gave him a cube of energon.

"This is good!" said Skywarp as he finished the cube, dropping the empty back into Cliffjumper's hands. "Who's your brewmaster?"

"Well, that would be me." Ratchet admitted with a smile. "it's amazing what uses you can put medical equipment to."

"So, you are a mech of many talents!" said Thundercracker, running his glossa around his derma to catch spare drops. "Would there by chance be a cube waiting for us each when we bring Starscream back from the flight, in a few hours time?"

"I should think that would be likely." Ratchet said.

Thundercracker nodded as Skywarp gave ratchet the fuelling tool back, and then they both joined Starscream in pre-flight checks. After all three reported that all checks were done, and all systems ready, the three took off. At first, Thundercracker and Skywarp took hold of Starscream's arms, helping stabilise him and support him minimally, but as the red and white Seeker's confidence grew, he pulled slightly away from the two, slightly ahead but still flanked by them should he falter or fall.

Cliffjumper cheered and Ratchet pumped his fist up and down in encouragement until they were out of sight. Then Ratchet turned to Cliffjumper.

"Wake me in two hours, I'm going to take advantage of this opportunity to rest." he said. "Make sure the energon they requested is available."

As the red mech nodded and headed back into the base, Ratchet rolled onto the berth and allowed himself to slip into recharge.


	7. Chapter 7

Claustrophobia.

Epilogue.

A/N: 1 orn is about 13 days.

It had been a hectic orn, Ratchet reflected, as he found a tarpaulin to cover the outside berth, which, after discussion with Optimus and Ironhide, was to be left outside covered up in case it was ever needed again in a hurry. After all, they had Skyblast and Air Raid, and there was everything to suggest the other Arielbots would be joining them.

Air Raid knew that none of the other Arielbots had been killed, and due to the constant but minute lessening of the strain of the gestalt bond, knew that they were all on their way, and would likely have met up and would arrive together. If one got injured on landing, for example, it might be needed. Ratchet had already picked out other berths to be erected if needed.

Starscream had been brought back as promised by his wing brothers after a three-hour flight, and again the seeker seemed relaxed and calm. The other two had stated to Ratchet that they would be along again the next day but half an hour earlier. It turned out Starscream was still hot as confident about his flying as they would have liked, and their approach was to get him up in the air as often as it took for him to get his confidence back.

The first recharge after that, Starscream still wanted to hold Ratchet, which the medic had no problem with, but the two other Seekers were gradually taking over all the mundane duties, such as polishing and waxing, and encouraging Ratchet to stand back and let the three of them interact. Ratchet knew why, knew what they were doing - they did not want Starscream to gain even a small reliance on him as they would sometime be taking him back to their own base - but he couldn't help feeling left out and a little jealous.

Three days later, when Starscream needed to recharge, he seemed happy enough to do so without grabbing on to Ratchet, which was a step forward in terms of Starscream's mental and emotional stability, but for Ratchet, in purely selfish terms, it was another facet of being left out. Ratchet was surprised to find he had that side, and kept it ruthlessly suppressed.

The flights got longer and longer each day, but Ratchet could see that Starscream's lucid moments were longer than those where he seemed to lose control or shake from remembered terror of the cave. Ratchet knew that between he and the rest of the Trine, Starscream was going to be fine.

The breakthrough came on the tenth day of the orn, when Starscream consented to recharge inside the Base, in a recharge chamber. True, he woke from bad memories two hours later and had to be taken back out, but the breakthrough had been made, and Ratchet encouraged Starscream to come into the base when he needed polishing or refuelling, and also put him in for another recharge, and this time it was uninterrupted for the whole cycle.

The rest of the Trine, after hearing this, decided it was time to take their leader back with them, and Starscream agreed. They promised that if he showed any signs of relapse, or delayed stress reaction that they could not deal with, that they would bring him back. Ratchet gave them some energon to take with them, rather sad in a way to see them go.

"We would leave him longer, but he wants to go back and the men are getting restless, accusing us of covering up his death. We need to show them that he is alive and well before things get out of hand. Barricade has already begun sounding out who might support him in a direct challenge against us."

"Oh he _has_, has he?" asked Starscream. "Then it is even more imperative I return now. The sooner we nip this in the bud, the better!" He turned to Ratchet, crouching a little so their faces were level.

"Thank you, medic." he said, slightly haughty, but then the haughty tone was dropped. "Thank you Ratchet. For _everything_." The emphasis Starscream laid on the last word and the smile he gave Ratchet made it _quite_ clear what part of 'everything' he had most enjoyed. Thundercracker too bent his joints to be on a level with Ratchet.

"Yes, you have my thanks too for the care you gave to my wing brother. I am sure we will return at some point, we may some day have need of your medical skills again and I know I want to avail myself of your brewing - and your _other_ - skills before then." He shutter-winked as Skywarp nodded in assent, and as Ratchet stared at them, momentarily lost for words, they straightened. Belatedly, he commed Ironhide to drop the force-field again.

"You're welcome!" he managed to shout, just before three pairs of thrusters started up, roaring in the confines of the courtyard. making it impossible for anyone to _think_ in that proximity, let alone hear someone call.

Ass the three rose into the air and did a graceful transformation sequence into jet mid-flight, Ratchet watched. Then he went to talk to Ironhide about retaining the berth in the courtyard.


End file.
